The answer is no, at least not for everyone, said Elgin Thompson, managing director of the technology investment advisory firm Digital Capital Advisors, at AdExchanger’s PROGRAMMATIC I/O in San Francisco last week.
A look back at IPO filings of former breakout ad tech stars like Rubicon and Rocket Fuel shows the jargon and positioning of companies in the space remains largely unchanged – automated machine learning and predictive audience modeling, anyone?
But the Wall Street investor sentiment around programmatic is the same as it was five to 10 years ago as well, Thompson said, with associations indelibly tied to remnant inventory, arbitrage and undifferentiated technology.
The solution won’t be shiny objects like blockchain and AI, he said. Understand the road map for ad tech exits and how your business fits into a potential buyer’s vision.
Venture capital:
“VCs wake up every day and ask, ‘Where’s my money?’” Thompson said.
It can be a frustrating fate for ad tech CEOs, many of whom come to the end of their VC tethers without an apparent exit and without profitability.
Ad tech companies that haven’t found a roof yet will “take arrows from the press and from advertisers,” he said, but it’s possible to reposition for investors.
Read More at The Original Article: adexchanger.com
